We all know that Rick Perry's refusal to expand Medicaid is leaving over 1 million Texans in a coverage gap and $6 billion of dollars on the table each year. But want to know just how much worse off he's making your county? In the six county coverage area that includes Bee, Goliad, Karnes, Live Oak, McMullen and Refugio counties the economic costs are estimated to be between $52,395,583 and $60,150,516 on an average yearly basis. In addition, 318 new jobs and 3,810 people that could have gained health care coverage were denied due to the failure to expand Medicaid.

An interactive tool from the Center for Public Policy Priorities shows the benefits that a Medicaid expansion would bring to each county. According to their analysis, expanding coverage in Texas would create over 300,000 jobs, reduce business tax penalties by at least $266 million, increase local tax revenues by $525 million and increase annual retail sales by $7.2 billion. To see the data for your county click here:

For example, in Bee County the failure to expand Medicaid is estimated to cost between $25.9 million and $29.7 million along with the loss of 198 new jobs and denying 1,689 people insurance. The breakdown of the financial amount is $481,230 in costs to the community for reduction of taxpayer-funded health care for the uninsured, between $9,269,397 and $13,093,399 in new federal health care money that the county could receive each year, $431,954 in new local tax revenues, $10,439,056 growth in income for county residents and $5,302,269 growth in retail sales. Once again, these amounts are yearly averages.

The financial effects in the other five counties are $3.8 million to nearly $4.7 million in Goliad county, about $10.3 million to nearly $11.6 million in Karnes county, almost $5.4 million to over $6.9 million in Live Oak county, from $308 thousand to over $450 thousand for McMullen county, and between $6.6 million to $6.7 million for Refugio county.

Meanwhile, this week at the Texas GOP Convention, Rick Perry told the crowd, "Some states took the bait of Obamacare and they expanded Medicaid. We did not. And we will not subscribe to federal blackmail." Because according to Rick Perry, a 9-to-1 federal match to insure 1 million people is blackmail.

The blackmail being perpetrated is by the Perry administration due to the obstinacy of refusing the expansion of the Medicaid program. It’s time for new leadership in Austin so remember this when you vote in November.